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Ricky Martin Still Can't Flip Florida Estate
 Ricky Martin Still Can’t Flip Florida Estate may be a chart-topping pop star who shakes his bon-bon for millions, but when it comes to his real
estate portfolio, the millions disappear as he fails to turn a profit as a house flipper. The Latin crooner recently re-listed his nearly 10,000-square-foot
oceanfront estate in Golden Beach, Fla. for $18.9 million. That's just under $3 million more than he originally paid back in 2007.
Three years ago, after dropping that $16.25 million on his 641 Ocean Blvd.
five-bedroom, seven-bathroom Spanish/Mediterranean pad, he attempted to make a juicy 38 percent profit by listing the two-story mansion for $22.5
million a mere six months later. The Sotheby's listing reveals a five-car-plus garage, gardens, a media room/home theater and terrace space. If Martin
gets his asking price, he stands to make 16 percent, which is more than most sellers currently are getting.
Unfortunately for Martin, he's likely livin' la vida loca if he thinks he can turn
a sizable profit in this market.However, he says, "I think this time the worst really is over and that the pendulum is swinging back in the other direction, meaning things are improving.
"It was like a perpetual free-fall for a few years -- where once you thought you hit the bottom, there was
another rung on the ladder to climb down. I think we are at the point where sellers are saying enough is
enough. Most of that low-hanging fruit has been picked," Cloninger says. "And those affected by the
economic crisis, or a death, or a divorce, and needing to sell immediately, are gone. Right now I am not seeing financially threatened sellers."
While Cloninger admits that we might still have to skim the bottom for a few months, he does say that the era of flipping is history.
"That ship sailed a few years ago. People can still buy investment properties that they can flip, but the profits
are so modest that it's not worth it until the market improves. Ten and fifteen years ago it got crazy, where
you could flip before you closed and make a lot of money. We learned a lot of valuable lessons from that crazy time ... and the amateurs have been weeded out."
So what is multimillionaire Martin doing trying to flip (well, sort of, now that three years have passed) his casa grande?
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